Fallen by Lauren Kate: lots of questions
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Hi there! I've only read up to the second book, Torment, so far, but I shared many of your questions while reading the first one:
*Trevor---I was confused about that too. The fire is supposed to only happen with Luce and Daniel, so the deal with Trevor seems to be a fluke. There is a LOT of detail that opens up about the shadows in the second book though, so that's either A) another aspect of them that hasn't been revealed yet, or B) a good ol' fashioned plothole. I tend to think B, but she might yet dig herself out of that.
*The "gossiping" thing--most of what Daniel says to Luce is heavily censored and incomplete. The shadows are much more than messengers. That's all I'll say if you're still interested in reading further.
*Penn--I actually liked Penn a lot, and she seemed like Luce's closest friend at the school. As for why she had to die, well, Sophia needed a sacrifice and Penn was there, and that honestly was enough for me.
*The fight at the end--Yeah, can't help you there. Poorly planned, sloppily executed, not much tension on account of Luce getting very quickly relocated. It was a disappointment.
*The angels at Sword & Cross--I would have previously thought the same, that they were there to protect Luce, but given the events of the next book, I'm not so sure. Because Luce goes elsewhere, and many of the previous characters stay at Sword & Cross.
*Her flying dreams--I complete forgot about them. No idea.
I will say that I enjoyed Torment MUCH, much more than Fallen overall. As for your Christian background, don't worry about it too much. It's the author's job to do the research and put what you need to know into the narrative. What kind of background you have religion-wise shouldn't make a difference.
*Trevor---I was confused about that too. The fire is supposed to only happen with Luce and Daniel, so the deal with Trevor seems to be a fluke. There is a LOT of detail that opens up about the shadows in the second book though, so that's either A) another aspect of them that hasn't been revealed yet, or B) a good ol' fashioned plothole. I tend to think B, but she might yet dig herself out of that.
*The "gossiping" thing--most of what Daniel says to Luce is heavily censored and incomplete. The shadows are much more than messengers. That's all I'll say if you're still interested in reading further.
*Penn--I actually liked Penn a lot, and she seemed like Luce's closest friend at the school. As for why she had to die, well, Sophia needed a sacrifice and Penn was there, and that honestly was enough for me.
*The fight at the end--Yeah, can't help you there. Poorly planned, sloppily executed, not much tension on account of Luce getting very quickly relocated. It was a disappointment.
*The angels at Sword & Cross--I would have previously thought the same, that they were there to protect Luce, but given the events of the next book, I'm not so sure. Because Luce goes elsewhere, and many of the previous characters stay at Sword & Cross.
*Her flying dreams--I complete forgot about them. No idea.
I will say that I enjoyed Torment MUCH, much more than Fallen overall. As for your Christian background, don't worry about it too much. It's the author's job to do the research and put what you need to know into the narrative. What kind of background you have religion-wise shouldn't make a difference.
Spoilers
I have just finished Passion. When I began reading Passion I thought this was a trilogy but halfway through realized there will be another book.
You don't need a christian background to understand the books. At least I hope not since Ember plays with a similar concept of the Grigori. The Grigori or Watchers are from the Book of Enoch.
Trevor, I feel Luce comes to an understanding there of what happened there in book three. The flames are about more than her and Daniel being together. She gets to know herself a lot more in book three.
My brother bought Fallen for me but I held back from reading until I finished writing Ember and by that time book two was out. To be honest I kind of wish I waited to read all the books together because each book leaves so many questions. IMO all your questions have been addressed including how the angels got to sword and cross. There is time travel in these books and it's a little mind spinning. Everything has already happened so do we really have free will if the futures happened already. Maybe someone else will take something else from it. I really don't know what's going to happen in the next book.
They are worth sticking with. Quick reads and I enjoyed them.
I have just finished Passion. When I began reading Passion I thought this was a trilogy but halfway through realized there will be another book.
You don't need a christian background to understand the books. At least I hope not since Ember plays with a similar concept of the Grigori. The Grigori or Watchers are from the Book of Enoch.
Trevor, I feel Luce comes to an understanding there of what happened there in book three. The flames are about more than her and Daniel being together. She gets to know herself a lot more in book three.
My brother bought Fallen for me but I held back from reading until I finished writing Ember and by that time book two was out. To be honest I kind of wish I waited to read all the books together because each book leaves so many questions. IMO all your questions have been addressed including how the angels got to sword and cross. There is time travel in these books and it's a little mind spinning. Everything has already happened so do we really have free will if the futures happened already. Maybe someone else will take something else from it. I really don't know what's going to happen in the next book.
They are worth sticking with. Quick reads and I enjoyed them.
IMO, Fallen was by far the best of the three. I really love her writing style, and I like the love story. I found the end of Fallen to be a bit thrown together, and the whole bit with the Angels at S&C seemed odd to me, but overall I really enjoyed it.
I was a little disappointed with Torment, in part because it felt too Twilighty, with Daniel leaving her alone for her "protection" which leads to the MC dancing close to TSTL territory while an unthreatening pseudo-love interest jumps into the picture (Daniel was also incredibly bossy in this one, in a way that reminded me of Edward Cullen). That being said, there were some interesting aspects to it, like the bit with the announcers.
I was more disappointed by Passion. I thought there were some great things in Passion, but I felt that the past lives were sometimes done in too shallow a way, without enough recognition that a 17 year old in many of those cultures/time periods would have been at a very different point in her life than she seemed to be (in many of those times, girls were married off incredibly young and not to a guy of their choosing).
I do think a background in religion helps. I don't have one, and I feel like there are things I'm missing.
Overall, I like the series, but I feel like they had the potential to be more than they are.
I was a little disappointed with Torment, in part because it felt too Twilighty, with Daniel leaving her alone for her "protection" which leads to the MC dancing close to TSTL territory while an unthreatening pseudo-love interest jumps into the picture (Daniel was also incredibly bossy in this one, in a way that reminded me of Edward Cullen). That being said, there were some interesting aspects to it, like the bit with the announcers.
I was more disappointed by Passion. I thought there were some great things in Passion, but I felt that the past lives were sometimes done in too shallow a way, without enough recognition that a 17 year old in many of those cultures/time periods would have been at a very different point in her life than she seemed to be (in many of those times, girls were married off incredibly young and not to a guy of their choosing).
I do think a background in religion helps. I don't have one, and I feel like there are things I'm missing.
Overall, I like the series, but I feel like they had the potential to be more than they are.
I have to agree with Seymour -- Fallen was the best, although there were things in Torment that weren't so bad. I haven't read Passion and I'm probably not going to, or if I do it will be when the last book is finally out because really, at this point all I care is to find out what/who Luce is -- especially if she's not Lucifer (which I think was the original intention, but then the author realized it was way too obvious and had to come up with something new). I agree, there was a lot of unrealized potential with this series.
As for the mythology, it seems like she's cobbling together her own that's very, very loosely based on the bible and apocryphal works like the Book of Enoch. So no, you don't need a Judeo-Christian background. Besides, one should be able to read something and *get it* regardless of the reader's background -- it's the writer's job to make the work accessible.
As for the mythology, it seems like she's cobbling together her own that's very, very loosely based on the bible and apocryphal works like the Book of Enoch. So no, you don't need a Judeo-Christian background. Besides, one should be able to read something and *get it* regardless of the reader's background -- it's the writer's job to make the work accessible.